Wednesday, February 1, 2017

640 West 238th Street - Developer Up to His Old Tricks

No it is not a junk yard, but a New York City Street. It seems that the developer of 640 West 238th Street thinks that a city street is a perfect place to leave building materials, equipment, and garbage, especially on a snowy day. The permit given to the developer has specific guidelines which appear to be ignored. The developer also told Community Board 8 that all materials and equipment would be on the footprint of the property being developed. The building can be seen on the right behind the orange and black protective fencing which abuts the sidewalk. Other photos will show more violations that were seen on January 31st 2017. The building is months behind schedule, and I was told by one worker known as the site supervisor that the money for the building is running out. it also appears that there are no more than 3 or 4 workers on site working on the building at 650 West 238th Street, which included national holidays like Thanksgiving, New Years Day this year, and Martin Luther King Day.

Above - There is suppose to be a flagman at each side of the street which is closed, but there is none at the Independence Avenue and West 238th Street corner that is closed.

Below - You can see that this trailer has been left with materials still on it, blocking half of the one open sidewalk, and that snow has managed to gather on the trailer as well as the sidewalk.

Above - Materials are placed across the street as they are either unloaded or even loaded on to the trailer. Notice the amount of snow on the top of the pile.

Below - In case of an emergency this unhooked trailer can not be moved quickly especially as it creates a fire hazard near the hydrant on the street.

Here you can see how close the unhooked trailer is to the fire hydrant, and you can also see how much snow has accumulated on the support straps which hold materials on the trailer as they lay in the street.

The developer knew how hard it would be to build this eight story building where a one family house once stood, even placing the fire hydrant on the wrong side of the street (by accident?) in the street closure plan.